My daughter just spotted the first bumblebee of the season! The Hunt's bumblebee was exploring her garden, next to some flowering Siberian Squill.

Bumblebees Reduce Their Expectations Of A Reward When Stressed Out

Are they depressed?

by @GrrlScientist via #Medium

#bumblebees #stress #expectation #behavior #emotions #SciComm https://medium.com/grrlscientist/bumblebees-reduce-their-expectations-of-a-reward-when-stressed-out-e311fdc9b837

#theBeeAt3
Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.

# 98

Observation suggests that one of the tasks of female worker #bumblebees in the nest is that of ‘doorwoman’ or security.
At least one bee sits at the nest entrance 24/7 and vets #bees leaving and returning.

#nature

It’s #Friday folks!

Have the best #weekend you can.

You know the drill:
Be #kind
Be #gentle
Be #true
Be like #bees

Don’t be a fucking Nazi or cheer on fucking Nazis from a distance.

Go easy out there!

#theBeeAt3

Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.

# 97

Buzz pollination - in brief.
#bumblebees rapidly contract their flight muscles. This produces powerful vibrations which they channel to the flower using their legs/mouths.
Result = #pollen explosion all over the bee.
Happy bee!
#bees

Almost on time!
Counts as early for me.

So…

Yes folks I have another quick question for ye:

Why does a duck have feathers?

To cover up its butt quack!

What?
What?

…butt quack…

#theBeeAt3

Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.

# 96

Red clover is a superb nectar source for long-tongued #bumblebees.
Honeybees prefer White clover.
Nectar secreted by red #clover can often be so abundant it fills the flower-tube meaning honeybees can access it too.
#bees

Quick question:

What’s the difference between a marine biologist and a dog?

One tags a whale and the other wags a tail!

What?
What?
That’s what happens when I’ve time on my hands.
I’ll be in the corner!

#theBeeAt3

Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.

# 95

Initially when #bumblebees start foraging they are not necessarily too good or efficient at it!
Newly emerged female workers often use up more resources in the process of foraging than they are actually gathering.
Awww!
#bees

I was watering our rhubarb today and accidentally watered this little one in the process.

Early?
You’re darn tootin’ I am!
Got some billionaires to sort out.
#BeesNotBillionaires
Join me?
beesnotbillionaires.org

#theBeeAt3

Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.

# 92

For #bumblebees size matters…
…of their antennae!
Bigger #bees with bigger antennae have greater sensitivity to odours.
Large antennae can catch more odour molecules and so are more sensitive to odours than small antennae.

Sometimes things don’t go as planned but, you make a new plan. Working on my (bee propaganda) next print about the future of pollination for Manufactured Ecosystems, I dropped my inked plate with the text and slipped - after completing 9 bees. I was pretty frustrated, but I started again from scratch.

But I didn’t want the original, with all that work to go to waste. 1/n

Late.
But worth the wait!

It’s #Friday folks!

Have the best #weekend you can.

You know the drill.

Be #kind
Be #gentle
Be #true
Be like #bees

Stay clear of cults, fascists and criminals ie American presidents.

#theBeeAt3

Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.

# 90

Even within the same colony not all #bumblebees spend the same amount of time actively foraging for pollen and nectar.
Bees that spend more time foraging tend to have shorter lifespans than those bees that forage less often.

Late.
Yep!
Out sitting with the queens in the sunshine.
And my what a lot of queens there are.
Place is literally humming.

‘They got a message from the Action Man
We’re humming hope you’re humming too…’
#nature
#bowie

#theBeeAt3

Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.

# 87

#Bumblebees leave a scent mark (a sticky secretion) behind whenever they land on #flowers and can distinguish between their own scent marks, those left by fellow nest-mates and those left behind by #bees from other colonies.

This every couple of steps around the sanctuary at the moment.

The sound of #spring.

Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz buzz, buzz, no buzz, birdsong, no buzz, birdsong, no buzz, birdsong, no buzz, birdsong, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz…

Them queens be out exploring!

Simple.
Joyful.
Vital.

#bees
#bumblebees
#nature

Nope!

#bees
#bumblebees
#dandelions

Early!

It’s #Friday folks!

Have the best #weekend you can.

You know the drill:

Be #kind
Be #gentle
Be #true
Be like #bees

Oh…and don’t be a little rich stand for nothing bitch that starts a global trade war for attention.

#theBeeAt3

Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.

# 83

#Bumblebees made history when over 130 years ago they were brought from England to New Zealand to pollinate red #clover for farmers - the first #insect to be introduced to a country to #pollinate a specific plant.

Exhibit #Knee on the #TattooTour is my piece of a set known as the bee's knees. A nesting partner has a similar tattoo but with a darker blue (bi colors) and slightly different design. [Previous Exhibit](https://lgbtqia.space/@h3mmy/114270861378131324)

Several people in my life have wanted matching tattoos, and this is often a difficult situation. I know how relationships can ebb and flow over the years, but I am also #poly (relationship anarchy). After some discussion, we decided on bumblebees as it parallels poly social constructs in fun ways.

Also, bumblebees will sometimes get 'drunk' on nectar and fall asleep in some flowers. They also like to just nap in flowers. Occasionally, they may fall out while napping. Moonflowers have psychoactive compounds like scopolamine (anticholinergic), and morning glories can have lysergic acid (LSA). Both those compounds are sleepy making.

So #bumblebees fit the need. It makes it easy to include more people into the tattoo theme as desired, and importantly isn't strictly bound to the set either.

This was also the fastest #Tattoo I've gotten because it is also the smallest.

#Tattooed #BeesKnees #Trans #NonBinary

Sidebar: If anyone has thoughts on what a #HumbleBumble would look like, let me know!

Maybe I should ask a bumblebee to chew on a bee fact…then it might arrive early!
What?
What?
I do this for free!

#theBeeAt3

Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.

# 81

Research found that tomato plants flowered up to 30 days earlier in response to their leaves being chewed by hungry #bumblebees.
When this behaviour is mimicked by cutting the leaves they only flower 5 days earlier!
#bees

Here is a Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum) in flight. A magnificent ginger marmelade colour.

Three big fluffy bumblebees (and one honeybee) were all over the huckleberry bush today. Didn’t even notice the tiny flowers. The sound of buzzing was such a sweet surprise. Buzzfest 2025

Bombus vosnesenskii (maybe)

#theBeeAt3

Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.

# 80

A recent study in Sweden has found that music can affect bumblebee mating - specifically the length of mating events.
In a laboratory environment broadcasting soul songs such as Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’ resulted in longer and more frequent mating events.
Songs by #TaylorSwift were found to decrease mating event duration and often inhibit entirely mating between #bumblebees.
#bees
#nature
#April

Told you I’d be back!
With today’s fact.
Still not sure if it’s late or not but it’s definitely a goodie regardless of the time.
And I am…
Regardless of the time!
Go easy folks.

#theBeeAt3

Basic bee facts every day at 3pm.

# 79

Recent research suggests that if food is scarce hungry #bumblebees will chew on plant leaves - not to eat them - but to stress the plant causing it to #flower thus providing earlier #pollen for the #bees.
Chew on that!